A New Prosthesis in Inguinal Hernia Repair: Results of a Pilot Study

Purpose: Prosthetic reinforcement is the gold standard in inguinal hernia repair.One-third of patients complain of post -surgical pain due to irritation and inflammation caused by the mesh and methods of fixation; 4-10% of these will experience severe chronic pain.We performed a prospective single arm study for the assessment of post-operative pain after inguinal hernia repair with a new self-gripping hernia prosthesis.Methods: From December 2011 to December 2013, 44 consecutive patients with primary oblique inguinal hernia underwent to inguinal hernia repair with Proflor TM (Insightra).All patients were preoperatively evaluated by ultrasound and the defect size was < 2 cm.Visual Analog Scale (VAS) was assessed at 7 days and 3-6 months.All patients were included in ultrasound follow up at 7 days and 3-6-12-18-24 months.Results: No sutures or other fixation systems have been used.According to the VAS scale pain was reported in a range from 1 to 3 during the first week.No peri-operative complications occurred.10 post-operative complications was reported: 3 hematomas (6.8%), 1 ecchymosis (2.2%), 2 seroma (4.5%), 4 hypoaesthesia (9.1%).None of total implants delivered dislodged, as confirmed bythe ultrasounds.Conclusions: Operative and post-operative complication rates were comparable to the literature; chronic pain did not occur.The use of this new prosthesis, which through its design allows fixation without sutures, could be an alternative method to decrease chronic pain after inguinal hernia repair.We acknowledge that further studies are needed.